Traveller: A bridge between worlds
by Kaio Thor
Summary: Part one of the Traveller series. About half a year after the SAO-incident Kirito, Lizbeth and a certain individual are confronted with events that will not only change their very being, but also change the fabric of their world itself. (This is following the events of my 'Merging Hearts' fic, so you might want to read this to get a better understanding of some circumstances)
1. Intro

**_Intro_**

* * *

"This was not supposed to happen that way."

A shadowy figure said to itself as it stood in front of a hovering screen showing the last moments of SAO.

Another screen appeared besides the first one and showed Kirito and Asuna sitting on what appeared to be a glassy platform, floating in the skies above Aincrad.

Comparing the time stamps of the two feeds it sighed as it noticed the difference in time of almost a month between them.

Appearing next were holograms of five different people, while the screens moved silently into the background.

The leftmost hologram depictured a man with a heavy red and white armor, a white cape and long grey hair that was tied into a pony tail and eyes of the same color.

The next one was a girl with chestnut colored hair, a red skirt, white shirt plus chest plate and eyes of the same color as her hair.

To her right was a boy with black hair and eyes, a black coat with white outlining, black shirt and pants and two similar looking swords on his back.

The boy was holding the hand of a girl in a red and white dress that was reminiscent of a waitress uniform with pink hair and dark pink eyes.

The last one was completely obscured as far as the finer features were concerned. The only feature to him really stand out were the cat ears and tail.

"Hmm…" the shadowy figure sighed in contempt.

"That boy in black is going to be a huge nuisance."

All the holograms faded into the background as the screens had done before, only the boy in black remained in the same place as he had appeared in.

Scanning him from head to toe the shadowy figure was seemingly analyzing each and every aspect of the boy in black.

"Since you are so good at gaming: Let the games begin!"


	2. Prolog

_**A/N:**_ _Hello and thank you for deciding to give this story a try. I'm just planning to let the chapter speak for itself, but there is just one thing I want to say. _

_Since this is a prolog (go figure ^^) I will probably upload the first chapter some time next week… or will at least try to. _

* * *

_**Prolog**_

* * *

A little girl with blonde hair was wiggling her way through the crowd at the market square of a medium sized town in the kingdom of Wei. The town in which the family of the minister Wang Su resided at the moment wasn't very large but they didn't plan on staying for too long anyway.

Her goal was a small shed at the edge of the town. The man living out there had grey hair and blue eyes and was considered a stranger by the townspeople. Aside from the facial features that clearly labeled him as a foreigner he had a strange way of speaking and a very odd behavior.

He had apparently appeared out of nowhere at the rice fields with completely ravaged clothing clothes and a huge sword wound across his chest. A stab wound that, in fact, should have killed him instantly since the sword must have pierced his heart. Yet, he lived through it and woke up about three weeks after they had found him. Adding the fact that he was completely malnourished when he appeared, his recovery was nothing short of a miracle.

Having recovered enough body mass and having learned to speak Chinese, although he still used some of the words in odd ways, he started to slowly help out with the work on the fields.

Of course the townspeople did not just let him live there just like that. Once he had been able to speak their language somewhat understandably, they asked him where he had come from and how he came to getting stabbed by a two-handed sword, right through the chest at that.

His answers were... confusing, to say the least.

He told them about a floating castle called Aincrad, hovering in the skies of a different world. A world where one man had trapped then thousand people and forced them to play his game of death.

Naturally most of the townspeople, except for a few kids who had overheard his answers, considered him nuts. But since he seemed sane enough, besides these absurd stories, they allowed him to stay as long as he could make himself useful in some way.

It didn't take long for the kids who had overheard the whole thing to spread the word amongst their peers and they started asking him for more of his stories.

The adults obviously kept a close eye on him once they noticed their children going to the shed or gathering around the stranger at a Tea-House more frequently.

* * *

After having asked him numerous times where he really came from he finally told them a story about his hometown in Japan. What he told them sounded almost even more unbelievable than his other stories.

A city full of buildings that almost reached the clouds and even at night was as bright as the day, carriages that moved on their own and people from all over the world visiting. Hadn't she seen the truth in his eyes the whole the time, the blonde would have never believed a single word he told.

At the time he told the story about how the remaining people were freed from their prison only half the children were still listening to his stories. A story about how they faced a demon that could take on about forty of the fiercest fighters they had and still had a good chance of winning if they weren't cautious with only four people and still managed to beat it. And how one of their bravest warriors was the very man who had imprisoned them all.

Although he couldn't tell them how the boy known as The black Swordsman had managed to defeat the man with the strongest shield known to them, he knew that he had done it.

Why couldn't he tell them about that?

It was because he was pulled away from the fight before it could even start because the god of this world saw him as something that must not exist.

He couldn't tell them much but he remembered a woman that told him to be ready when the time comes before he woke up in this town.

* * *

Half a year later the minister came to bring his family to the capital. Since the stranger was busy working on the fields the blonde girl couldn't say goodbye, as she was not allowed to wander around anymore before they moved.

Departing the town the girl looked back until the village disappeared behind a small hill.

Not long after that they were attacked by a large horde of bandits. Their guards were fighting bravely but couldn't keep their enemies at bay. Sending a messenger back to the town they came from, they could do little more but hope that they would somehow get out of this alive.

One after another their guards fell to the blades of the bandits until only five of them were left standing.

Five guards against a horde of sixty bandits.

Since the attackers had crippled one wheel of the carriage the guards couldn't even get their lord to safety.

Just as the circle around them had closed and the guards were about to be overwhelmed someone broke through the lines of the bandits.

It was now squad of soldiers or even farmers with tools but it was one man. The last one they expected to come to their rescue.

Coming to a halt in front of the carriage their grey haired savior got into a fighting stance as if he intended to take all of the bandits on himself.

Being momentarily confused the bandits quickly regained their composure and decided to take out the newcomer first. What happened next was a stunning display of martial arts.

Dodging the first spear he punched his attacker's stomach so hard that he spew out every last bite of his breakfast. Dropping to the ground to avoid the sword that was aimed for his head he swept away the feet of the next bandit and finished him off with a foot to the head before he had to roll away to evade another spear thrust.

Using his momentum to jump at his next opponent he knocked him out could with a knee to the jaw.

Having taken out three of his opponents unarmed without so much as a scratch the bandits charged at him recklessly.

The fight continued in very much the same way only that the guards joined in after their rescuer had taken out three more in just a few seconds. The fight only lasted for another five minutes.

As the last bandit fled there were only three people left. Their reinforcement, if you could call him that, and two guards.

Stepping out of the carriage, Wang Su approached the survivors.

"That was a magnificent display of skill."

"We just did our duty my lord!" the guards answered.

"I was actually commenting our savior." Wang Su said as he eyed the person in question closely.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"A good friend of mine taught me the basics." The grey haired man answered.

Wang Su had to laugh heartily at that answer.

"Those were hardly just basics."

"I want to know the name of our savior, so that I can carry the tale of his bravery to the ears of our lord!" Wang Su said as he made an overly dramatic gesture towards the direction they were travelling in.

"In Aincrad I was called by the name of Silber."

"Then you must be this storyteller my daughter told me about." Wang Su said with a smile.

"It seems like there is some truth to your stories after all."

"I'm glad you think so." Silber said a little bit embarrassed.

"Would you like to join my service then? I could use a man like you."

Silber had no time to answer as the little blond girl hugged him forcefully.

"Wang Yuanji?!" Wang Su exclaimed surprised.

As Silber had pried the girl away from him he knelt down in front of her.

"It's alright." Silber said soothingly as he patted her head.

"But all those men…" she sobbed.

"If you are strong enough, you can protect them." Silber reassured her.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

Silber gulped as he saw what happened with his hand as he patted her head again. Wang Su and the remaining guards just gasped in shock.

"Remember the end of my last story?" He asked the blonde.

"Yes." Yuanji answered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I think the time has come…" Silber said as got to his feet again.

If his body becoming transparent was the indicator, then yes, the time had definitely come.

"But…" Yuanji began as she finally saw what was happening to Silber.

"I might have to leave now, but I assure you that I'll try to come and save you again if you call me." Silber said as he looked up at the sky.

As Yuanji tried to grab hold of him again he was blown away like dust in the wind.

"He sure seemed unique…" Wang Su said as he looked up at the sky, the same direction Silber had before he disappeared.

* * *

_~ 18__th__ October 2024_

As he came to again, he found himself lying in a hospital room with something heavy on his head. Taking off what turned out to be the machine called Nerve Gear, he wondered why he had survived. The machine should have fried his brain as he disappeared from Aincrad.

Then the memories hit him.

He just didn't know if it was real or if it just was a really strange dream. A pretty realistic one at that.

Turning his head he found a nurse who had dozed off in a chair at his bedside.

"W… Wha…t year is… it?" His voice didn't really sound like his at all, not to mention that his throat hurt from just that bit of talking.

The nurse shot up from her chair as she heard that and looked at him with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"It's 2024, October the 18th." She answered with a smile.

"Welcome back."


	3. Chapter 1

_**A/N:** Well, here it is. The first "real" chapter of my Traveller-series. _

_Nothing more to say than: HAVE FUN READING AND PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!_

* * *

_There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable._

_There is another theory which states that this has already happened._

_**Douglas Adams**_

* * *

_**Slice of life**_

* * *

_~eight months later_

* * *

The rehabilitation after the SAO players were released from their virtual prison was hard but they had to go through it in order to get back to their lives. However, some of the players had a much easier time while doing it.

And for some reason they only needed half the time.

Kirito, Lizbeth and Silber were amongst them.

After those four months Kirito started to visit his acquaintances from SAO to convince himself that they were still alive.

It was at that time that they found out that about three-hundred players had not returned yet, Silica, Agil and Asuna being among them.

However, the SAO taskforce established by the government promised to do everything in their power to get them back.

And so Kirito and Lizbeth were left with nothing to do but to wait and continue their visits.

As Kirito visited Klein, who complained that Kirito somehow cheated to get through rehab faster than him.

While Lizbeth accompanied him most of the time, she also had a hard time to convince her parents that Kirito, or better said Kazuto, was not just some boy but someone she truly loved. Although it took her a while, her parents agreed to see how it would turn out.

Of course Lizbeth also told Kirito about their pseudo-daughter and what had happened to her as the game ended. Needless to say that both of them fell into a period of mourning that lasted a few days. At least the time in which they felt completely down.

As Kirito visited Silber, neither of them being able to explain why his brain hadn't been fried, they talked a little bit about how they were going to go on with their lives after SAO, Silber said something about travelling somewhere to visit some place he hadn't seen in a long time.

The next four months both of them didn't even hear a word about his whereabouts.

* * *

_~ At the Kirigaya household_

* * *

It was a fresh morning and Suguha was doing her usual morning exercises by the pond in the garden. Being so deep in thought about how her view of her brother, or better cousin, had changed over the months following his awakening from the nightmare that was SAO, she didn't notice him sitting on the porch.

Finishing her exercises she turned around to see Kazuto sit there with a bottle of water in his hand.

"B-B-B-B-Brother?" She stammered in surprise.

"Good morning, Sugu." He just answered with a smile.

After she caught the bottle, with some involuntary juggling, she proceeded to sit down next to her cousin on the porch and gulped down half of the water before putting it back down between them. As Kazuto picked up her Shinai, which she had leaned against the porch between them, she took a closer look at his face.

Ever since he had returned to them he had that gleam of contentment in his eyes. Responsible for that was probably that always dragged herself to his room until the nurses gave up and just moved them both to a double room.

Shinozaki Rika or Liz, as Kazuto called her.

The girl who obviously held his heart.

She noticed that right away, which brought her to her actual problem. Over the course of the last eight months she had grown to like Kazuto way more than just the usual affection between brother and sister she had known.

"It's too light…" Kazuto mumbled as he inspected the shinai closely.

"It's timber bamboo, so it's actually quite heavy." Suguha said as she was pulled back to reality once again.

"I guess I'm just used to something else…" He mumbled again.

Kazuto then grabbed the bottle and emptied the rest of the contents. That made Suguha blush, courtesy to certain childish ways of thinking in Japan.

"Want to have a go?" He asked after putting the bottle down again.

"You want to spar?" Suguha asked back.

"We still have grandpa's protective gear, right?" Kazuto asked as he stood up.

Suguha just nodded giddily before they headed towards their dojo.

* * *

After Suguha's initial laughter at his stance she found that Kazuto was equal to her in skill and speed.

They traded blow after blow and Kazuto dodged her best moves and blocked the others as if he could predict them somehow.

As they parted after their last clash, Kazuto raised his shinai and charged at her with his body barely above the floor. She decided to block his upward swing but felt her shinai being knocked out of her hands with a strength she wouldn't have expected from the slim form of her cousin.

Kazuto just straightened his body and backed away a few steps, staring at his weapon in disbelief.

"Was that just…" His voice was barely audible.

He could have sworn he had seen the shinai glow a faint green, not to mention that he felt that the shinai had moved almost on his own.

Suguha just stood there, eyeing her cousin in awe.

"Ki-ri-to!" a voice called playfully as Kazuto was hugged from behind, effectively pulling him out of his stupor.

Suguha moved silently to pick up her shinai and put it back to where she stored all her shinai.

"Good morning Rika." Suguha said as she turned back towards the couple.

"Good morning Suguha." The girl in question, also called Lizbeth, answered.

As Kazuto, or Kirito for better understanding, made attempts to remove his headgear she let go of him and danced around him with light steps.

"You're early." Kirito stated with a sly smile.

"And you are sweaty." Lizbeth countered.

After Kirito had removed his gloves Lizbeth pulled him into a hug again, this time he had the chance to return the hug.

"We haven't had breakfast yet, want to join us?" Suguha asked with a smile.

"Sure!" Lizbeth answered with a big grin.

"But since it's my turn to make breakfast you should take a shower first." Kirito said as he pulled away from the hug and started putting all the protective he had been, or was still, wearing back to where it was usually stored.

* * *

The breakfast was a quite lively meal for once, mostly because Lizbeth was talking a lot with Suguha. They got along quite well with another and considered each other as friends even if they had almost nothing in common. They chatted about music and TV-shows while Kirito only threw in some of his opinions about the topic once in a while, but he generally kept thinking about what had happened as he was sparring with his cousin earlier.

After they had finished Kirito went to take a shower while Suguha was cleaning the dishes, with the help of Lizbeth of course. It was silent for a minute before Lizbeth started talking.

"Do you have someone you like?"

Suguha was caught completely off guard by that sudden question and so it took her a moment to finally get her bearings again.

"Wh-Wh-Why are you asking?" Suguha asked back, stammering a little bit.

"I'm just curious." Lizbeth answered innocently.

And the talk went on until Lizbeth got the answer she wanted.

* * *

After Kirito was done showering he and Lizbeth headed out. Their destination was a small forest at the edge of a cliff from where they wanted to view the sunset.

They departed that early because they still had some preparations to make for their evening picnic and wanted to get all the shopping and cooking together.

Since it was quite hot they decided to stop at a street café to relax and eat some ice-cream. Which was exactly the same café Klein happened to pass by.

"If it isn't Kirito." Klein said as he approached them.

Kirito and Lizbeth looked up at the source of the voice and found the familiar face of Klein with his trademark bandana and the clothes he usually wore when he was working, consisting of a white button-up shirt and black pants.

"What're you doing here?" They both asked in unison.

Klein stumbled back by two steps at that answer.

"Did you practice that response?" He asked as he eyed the couple skeptically.

"No." They both replied, again, in unison.

"You're definitely doing that on purpose…" Klein said with a sigh.

Kirito and Lizbeth were just laughing at the comically confused expression on his face.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Kirito asked as he offered Klein a seat at their table.

"Well, I was actually going to meet up with my guild to buy ALO, that new VRMMO." Klein answered as he shook his head.

Kirito's eyes lit up at the mention of a new VRMMO, despite the bad experience he had made with that type of game.

"No more VRMMO's for you!" Lizbeth reprimanded Kirito, who was clearly thinking about buying the game.

"That's the price of having a girlfriend." Klein said with a laugh as he saw how Kirito reacted with a somewhat down expression.

Klein waved his goodbye as he left them to their own again, still a grin on his face.

* * *

After their encounter with Klein they finished their shopping and went back to the Kirigaya's house to get the whole preparations done.

It turned out that both of them were actually quite decent at cooking, it was just that none of the two had bothered to train their cooking in SAO.

They didn't encounter Suguha because, as Kritio said, she was busy training for the nationals that were scheduled for the next month.

The time it took those two to do the shopping and cooking left them with little time before they had to head out to watch the sunset in its full splendor, so they just spent the time they had cleaning the dishes.

On their way to the cliff Kirito picked up a stick and stopped in his tracks.

"What's the matter?" Lizbeth asked after she had stopped as well.

"I want to try something." Kirito said as he put down the basket he was carrying.

He got into a stance that was reminiscent of the initial movement of one of the most basic sword skills in SAO.

He stood there for a few seconds as if he was waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

Kirito then dropped the stick and picked the basket back up.

"I guess I was just imagining things…" Kirito sighed as he moved to walk next to Lizbeth again.

"Did you just try to use a sword skill?" Lizbeth asked giggling.

Kirito just nodded his head, which made her crack up and start laughing loudly.

By the time they arrived at the cliff Lizbeth had calmed down again and was now holding Kirito's hand. She let go to help him set up the blanket.

They just sat there, leaning onto each other and slowly sipping the tea they had brought as they watched the sun go down.


End file.
